New Delhi: Animal rights activist and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi on Friday criticised the Supreme Court’s recent order directing the removal of stray dogs from premises of educational institutions, hospitals, bus and railway stations, terming it as “as bad as or even worse than Justice Pardiwala’s judgement.” She expressed doubts about the practicality of the directive, saying, “If 5000 dogs are removed, where will you keep them? You need 50 shelters... But you do not have that. You need people to pick them up. What difference will removing 5000 dogs make? If there are 8 lakh dogs here, what will removing 5000 dogs change?... The question is that if this were possible, it would have been done…”

The Supreme Court, responding to a rise in dog bite cases, ordered that stray dogs be removed from public institution premises and relocated to shelters, with a strict ban on releasing them back into the same areas post-sterilisation. The court directed municipal authorities to oversee the safe transfer and ensure shelters are appropriately managed and fenced to prevent further stray incursions.

With inputs from ANI